


Common Bonds, Hidden History

by vballangel2010



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Eureka, Psych, Stargate Atlantis, Torchwood
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-05-03
Updated: 2011-05-11
Packaged: 2017-10-18 22:40:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/194078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vballangel2010/pseuds/vballangel2010
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The worlds of several key characters are turned upside down when they learn the truth about their heritage.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I own nothing except Livinia, Helen, Caeli, and the idea. I've only seen New Who, so I'm sorry if this does not match with Old Who.  
> Spoilers: Doctor Who- up to 3x13, Eureka- 3x01 (but she said no), Psych- up to 3x08, SGA- all of it, and Torchwood- up to but not including 2x06.

~Prologue~

 

Livinia, daughter of Theta and Koschei (more commonly known as the Doctor and Master), along with her lover Janus stood in front of a joint council of Timelords and Lanteans. Their crime was falling in love and acting upon it. The members of the council looked down on them with disappointment and in some cases outright disdain. While these looks made Janus stand, not in shame, but like a man walking to his execution, Livinia stood straighter, refusing to be cowed by them.

“Do you understand why you’ve been brought in front of this council?” the sternest Lantean on the council asked.

The question was meant to be rhetorical, Livinia and Janus had been told several times what they’d done wrong once their affair had discovered, but Livinia couldn’t resist answering, “No, I don’t. Timelords and Lanteans can become friends, they can work together, fight together, and even die together but they can’t love each other or become intimate with one another. And this is a restriction solely on Timelords; the rest of Gallifrey doesn’t have these constraints. In fact, non-Timelord Gallifreyans are encouraged to marry Lanteans. I love Janus he loves me, why should you have any say in what we do?”

“It is not up to you to question that which you do not understand. You are still too young to fully comprehend the ramifications of your actions,” the eldest Timelord told her. Livinia wanted to protest, but the Timelord held his hand up and continued, “As punishment Janus, you are banned from ever stepping foot on Gallifrey again and Livinia, you are forbidden from going to Atlantis or any other Lantean outpost in the Pegasus Galaxy for the rest of time; past, present, and future.”

Once he had finished, he and the rest of the council stood up and left the chamber. Livinia saw her parents approach her in one direction and in another, a group of Lanteans heading for Janus. Knowing that this would be the last time she would see Janus, she threw herself into his arms. Janus held her tight, whispering over and over again “I love you.” They had just started to kiss when she felt two hands gently grab her arms and pull her away from Janus.

Looking over her shoulder Livinia saw it was the Doctor who held her while the Master stood off to the side with a sad look on his face. She glanced back to Janus, only to see him being dragged in the opposite direction. Tears started streaming down her face as she began to plead, “Please, Daddy, Papa, don’t let them do this. Please, I love him....” she kept sobbing and pleading, yet within minutes she was out of the council room and on her way back home.

A couple days passed. Livinia felt numb as the realization of what happened and what could never come to be hit her. Those days were spent in her room where she contemplated how her life had come to this, she was barely 100 and she felt like her life would never be whole again. She thought over her last moments with Janus and everything that the council said when she realized something, she wanted to understand what the eldest Timelord meant when he said that she hadn’t understood the “ramifications of [her] actions.”

With this thought in mind she sought out her fathers to explain it to her. She found them both in the study and immediately asked, “What are the consequences of Janus and me being together?” seeing the confused looks on their faces, she continued, “a council member said I didn’t understand the ‘ramifications’ of my actions. What ramifications could my being with Janus have?”

The Doctor and Master shared a look, as if deciding who should answer her question. Sighing, the Doctor turned from his husband to his daughter, “It’s a matter of genetics Livinia, the council fears what would happen if a Timelord and Lantean have a child together.”

“Dad, I’m a temporal engineer, not a geneticist. In fact, I failed genetics.”

“Not all Gallifreyans are Timelords; in fact children of Timelords aren’t necessarily Timelords. We are able to feel the flow of time, among other things, but we don’t consciously feel it until after we look into the Untempered Schism...”

“Right, so how would introducing Lantean genes affect all that?” Livinia interrupted.

This time it was the Master who answered, “Lanteans are attempting to evolve to a state of being where they wouldn’t need their physical bodies. And in the process, they have managed to gain many different types of powers, they’re individualized but the ability to say walk through walls or talk to animals is passed through DNA.”

“What the council fears,” the Doctor interjected, “is that a child of a Timelord and Lantean wouldn’t need to look into the Untempered Schism to feel the passage of time. That everything that makes a Timelord a Timelord will be automatically activated because of the Lantean genes and that the child might still possess some other ability. That the child might be too powerful to control, with everything that it could do it wouldn’t need to fear repercussions for breaking our laws.”

Livinia took in everything she was told before answering, “That’s ridiculous! You make it sound like any child born of a Timelord and Lantean would be a power-hungry dictator or something. Don’t the morals that parents teach their children mean anything? Do both of you fear that?” When neither responded, Livinia threw her hands up in disgust and stormed out of the study.

For a week she avoided both her parents; still upset that they had sided with the council instead of her, their only daughter. Despite only seeing them in passing, Livinia heard them arguing almost constantly, arguing over her, the council, and some things that Livinia had no idea about. Their voices carried all throughout the house and she couldn’t escape their fighting and begin by herself just brought feeling of loneliness and a great sense of loss.

She was sitting in her room when the idea came to her and without thought she leapt from her bed and snuck to her TARDIS. She was going to leave Gallifrey, leave the council and their rules, leave the memories of Janus behind. Livinia thought of traveling, but doing it alone would be just as bad as sitting alone in her room, so instead she settled on visiting Earth to stay only for a year maybe more.

She arrived in Manchester in 1951, a month later she found out she was pregnant. Nine months later as she held her daughter, Helen, Livinia realized she’d never be able to go home again and decided that no one (Timelord, Lantean, or otherwise) could find out about Helen. She made a ring for herself and a necklace for Helen that would disguise their alien traits and allow them to age like a human. Livinia was resigned to living out the rest of her life pretending to be human, if only to protect her daughter.


	2. Chapter 1

~1~

Manchester-2008

Livinia was in the sitting room when the doorbell rang, she looked up confused. No one she knew rang the doorbell, they all just walked into the house. She sighed getting up, hoping that it wasn’t another Mormon asking her to convert to their word of God. As she approached the door, she felt a tingle in the back of her mind, the familiar sensation of a Timelord. This couldn’t be happening; she had only recently stopped wearing her ring while in the house and now a Timelord had found her. It was with trepidation that she opened the door.

Standing on her doorstep were two nervous looking men. Though they looked different, she recognized them immediately. It was the Doctor and Master, her fathers. It had been fifty-seven years since she had last seen them, who knew how long it had been for them. “Hello,” she said in a small voice.

“Livinia,” it wasn’t a question and in the next moment she was swept into the strong arms of her fathers.

It was nice to be held by them again, but she remembered the reason she ran away. Were they here to talk, to really talk? But what would happen when they found out about their grandchild and great-grandchildren? They couldn’t handle her being with Janus, how could they handle this? Caeli was staying with her for the moment, it wasn’t like she could hide the truth, that and she had never been able to lie to her parents. She pulled away from them, “Did you want to come inside and talk?”

“If that’s what you want,” the Doctor responded, he seemed unnaturally subdued. Behind him the Master nodded in reply.

Livinia led them to the sitting room before leaving them to get the tea that she had been preparing earlier. She made three cups of tea in a daze, her mind in the sitting room with her fathers. Coming back with tea she asked the question that had been plaguing her since she felt them, “How did you find me?”

“We never stopped looking for you Livinia. We knew you needed some time alone, but thought you’d come back to Gallifrey eventually. Though after the Time War, I thought you had been lost with the rest of the Timelords. Though not too long ago we felt another Timelord presence; the Master believed it was you, I didn’t want to get my hopes up. To think you’re alive only to discover someone else had survived. But we investigated and here we are.” The Doctor said all this in a rush and into his teacup.

Livinia was confused, the Timelords were gone? When had that happened? It explained the almost emptiness she felt in her mind, though at the moment she was happy to let those thoughts go. The three of them had more important, family matters to discuss.

The Master stared at Livinia as if afraid she would disappear if he took his eyes off her. “Why didn’t you ever come back home Livinia?” he asked her.

“I planned on coming back really. Just needed to get away for a while because both of you wouldn’t listen to me about Janus, and he couldn’t leave his people. I was only going to stay for a few months maybe a year, give everyone time to cool down. But things got complicated.”

Before either could ask, one of the complications walked through the front door. “Gran, I’m back. I was thinking maybe you could come with me to visit Shawn and Nathan, get off this island for a little while. Owen is being all busy with his secret government job, so he probably won’t be able to come and visit as much. And visiting Nathan is just so much fun; they have all these nifty toys, though you really shouldn’t play with them because bad things can happen. Do you have an idea about dinner? I was thinking Italian, maybe make some spaghetti. Michael wants me to go to the club later tonight, would that be ok?” Caeli was a babbler, often speaking for minutes at a time without pausing for breath. During those minutes, topics came and went and questions were asked without waiting for an answer, though she expected one eventually.

Livinia looked to her fathers, seeing twin looks of confusion she sighed.

“Gran?” they asked in unison.

Before she could respond, perhaps try and salvage the situation, Caeli poked her head in, “Oh, I didn’t know we had company. Are they staying for dinner?”

“Perhaps, I haven’t asked them yet. Did you want to get started on it?”

“Sure, spaghetti good?” Caeli looked around the room, her grandmother’s two guests sat looking shocked on sofa. Though at her glance they wiped the look off their faces and nodded their heads. “Cool, then dinner should be done in an hour or so. And Gran, think about coming with me please.” When she saw Livinia agree, Caeli left the room, presumably heading to the kitchen.

Livinia held up a finger when she saw the Doctor about to open his mouth. When she heard music coming from the kitchen she gestured to him to ask whatever he wanted.

“I…uh…Gran? I thought you were heartbroken about Janus. Unless…Livinia…you weren’t, you know, when you left?” The Doctor was almost speechless, something that rarely ever happened to him.

Livinia looked from one of her fathers to the other. The Doctor looked at her like he was begging her not to confirm what he knew to be true while the Master looked in the direction Caeli went.

“I found out a month after I left,” her admission had the Master looking at her as well. She spoke slowly, thinking about how to explain while listening in case Caeli came back, “it’s why I never came back. I didn’t want to know what would happen to my daughter if the High Council found out about her.”

“You didn’t want to know what we would do either.” It was the first thing the Master had really said since arriving.

“The two of you couldn’t decide whether my relationship with Janus was a good thing or not. You spent weeks arguing and if I had told you about her, you would have done the same. Actually, it probably would have been worse.”

“Probably,” the Doctor agreed a look of embarrassment entering his face.


	3. Chapter 2

~2~

The TARDIS-Several days earlier

The Doctor and the Master were sitting in the Time Vortex after dropping Jack and Martha off at their respective homes. They were staring at each other, unsure how to approach the topic they both wanted to talk about.

“So, you’re really just going to keep me?” the Master echoed his words from earlier on the Valiant. Though that time resulted in his wife shooting him in the side, inches away from anything vital.

“I figured we could talk or maybe start over. Try to get back what we had.” The Doctor looked earnest as he said this, like he believed it could happen.

“Yeah right. Whatever we had was lost years ago. Or have our century long fights not been enough to convince you?” The Master got out of his seat and started pacing the control room, “Besides, what could we talk about? How about how much of a sanctimonious prat you are? Or how I would rather die than be stuck here with you?”

“Koschei…”the Doctor started, trying to soothe the Master.

“Don’t you dare ‘Koschei’ me! I haven’t been Koschei in centuries. Though I think I know what you want to talk about Theta. Livinia. You decided that following the high council instead of listening to our daughter was a good idea. She left and we never found her, no matter how far I looked. Then you destroyed Gallifrey and we have no idea what happened to her!” The Master was yelling by the end, wanting to get his point across.

Things had never been the same between them after Livinia left, their relationship fell apart and they separated. The Doctor eventually remarried, had another child and the Master was left alone not knowing whether he should mourn his child or not. “You whispered forgiveness to me, Doctor, as if you had the right and you don’t.” The Master spoke completely calm, his voice sounding, perhaps, saner than he had in years, “You want to forgive me to make yourself feel better and that won’t happen until I forgive you and as long as I have no idea what happened to my daughter, that will never happen.” With that the Master stormed out of the control room.

Days passed in the same manner: the Doctor trying to reason with the Master, the Master resisting and raging only to stalk out of whatever room they were in. The next day often started out the same or with the Master plain ignoring the Doctor. The constant fighting wore on them both. Even during the Year that Never Was they were able to be civil to each other, or as civil as one could be between jailer and prisoner, but now they were acting like they had in school, before they became friends, arguing for the sake of arguing and not listening to the other.

The Doctor was starting to get cabin fever. Staying in the TARDIS, in the Time Vortex, for too long was hard. Especially since his companion either avoided or yelled at him, so most of his time was spent making repairs to his beloved ship. That’s where the Master found him. “Do you think we could not argue, Master? I’m tired and I think we’re both better than that.”

The Master was tired too, but he didn’t want to come out and say so. Instead he nodded, “As long as you don’t start on how we should go back to...the way we were...”

“Fine. Come help.” They worked in companionable silence until they felt it, the feeling of another Timelord mind. “That’s not possible,” the Doctor breathed.

“Apparently it is. Need I remind you that you didn’t know I survived and I was able to hide myself from you for eighteen months? Why couldn’t someone else?”

“Let’s go check it out, could be someone we know.” The Doctor danced around the console, pulling levers and pushing buttons.

The Master contemplated, “You mean someone like Livinia?”

The Doctor froze, he’d be lying if he denied thinking it but it was something he couldn’t let himself believe. “I don’t know.” He said into the console, “ I’d like to think it could be, but the reality is she probably went back to Gallifrey sometime after we both left.”

“You’d like that wouldn’t you? If she was there when Gallifrey burned, your conscience would be free. You always said she would return, I was just the impatient one.” The Master didn’t truly believe what he said, but he knew it would hurt the Doctor, which was fine for him.

“Don’t,” the Doctor’s voice took a sharp tone, “if she was there it would make my guilt that much more intense. I would have killed her. Her and the rest of the Timelords and I would never get my chance to apologize. To tell her how sorry I was, I am, for not helping and you know it. Now stop being an arse and come help with the coordinates.”

Normally, the Master would’ve loved when the Doctor got all dominate, but at the moment, he just wanted to find this Timelord and put his hope to rest one way or the other.


	4. Chapter 3

~3~

Manchester-2008

Caeli left her grandmother and her grandmother’s guests in the sitting room to start dinner. Something was going on, Gran looked guilty, the two men looked shocked at her appearance, and more worrying was the fact that Gran was allowing her to cook dinner unsupervised.

It wasn’t that Caeli was a bad cook, just that she was easily distracted and liked to mix odd combinations of food. Like the time she decided that macaroni and cheese was too boring and added hot sauce, paprika, and cinnamon to it. After that, Caeli wasn’t allowed to cook without someone in the kitchen with her.

The first thing she did when she reached the kitchen was turn on the radio. Caeli never could work in silence. She went around getting out what she needed for the spaghetti and tried not to think of something to give it more zest. Singing along to The Wombat’s “Let’s Dance to Joy Division,” she put the water on to boil, set the oven for the garlic bread, and started on a salad. While heating up the tomato sauce, Caeli’s will to not experiment faltered and she added more garlic and put some cumin into the sauce. She added some cranberries to the salad and then rushed to set the table.

Pouring some water into a pitcher, her mind once again went back to the two strangers talking with Gran. One of them reminded her of Harold Saxon but that was probably her overactive imagination running wild. They seemed to all know each other, but Gran didn’t get out much and the men looked like they were Nathan’s or John’s age.  
“Dinner’s ready,” she called. Caeli went back to the kitchen to start bringing everything to the table.

“Let me help,” a voice said from the doorway.

Turning around she saw Gran, “You don’t have to. You should still be entertaining our guests.”

“They can look after themselves for a few minutes. Give me the salad and bread. I'll take them in.”

Caeli handed over the requested items, grabbed the spaghetti, and followed her Gran back to the dining room. Sitting down at the table she was introduced to Doctors John and Sam Smith.

Dinner was an awkward affair; Caeli, like her eldest brother Nathan, wasn’t the best at interpreting social interactions yet she knew that there was tension in the room. Their two guests didn’t seem to know what to say, Gran was staring suspiciously at her food, and Caeli did what she did best when she was nervous, babble. She talked about the club she was working at, how Owen seemed to have a new boyfriend, which was surprising since she never thought of Owen as being anything other than straight, Shawn actually staying in one place for the longest time since he graduated high school, and how John seemed to have dropped off the face of the Earth; she would have continued till the end of dinner if Gran hadn’t chosen to break into her one sided conversation.

“Caeli, what did you put in the spaghetti sauce?” It seemed like Gran finally figured out what was wrong with the food.

“What do you mean Gran? The sauce tastes fine to me.” Caeli was a horrible liar, but didn’t want to admit to adding anything unusual to dinner especially since the two doctors seemed to finally get interested in what was happening around them.

“Don’t lie to me Caeli Amara Sheppard. You put something in this spaghetti sauce, something I’m sure was never supposed to be in spaghetti sauce.”

Gran’s voice was stern and Caeli winced at the use of her full name, “I might have added some garlic.” At Gran’s pointed look, she continued, “and a teaspoon or two of cumin.”

The Doctor Smith who didn’t look like Harold Saxon laughed. It was like a cloud had been lifted from the table as the other Doctor Smith smiled as well.

Gran just shook her head, “why did I let you make dinner alone and are those cranberries in the salad?”

“You were too busy having a serious conversation and yes,” was the prompt reply.

Conversation became more casual, as Gran told the story about Caeli’s macaroni and cheese mishap. Other stories of cooking disasters were shared. Though towards the end, Caeli’s inquisitive mind got the better of her, “did you know that you look remarkably like Harold Saxon?”

“So I’ve been told,” was the only reply she received.


End file.
